I've been working on the fly fishing design quite a bit lately. I've decided not to start it out with just a handful of flies after all, but several dozen well known patterns. Just like there's a wall of lures in the shop that has a different assortment each time you visit, there will be a fly counter with a different combination of patterns and sizes. The fly patterns will be specified with a text file, so adding new flies will just be a matter of specifying the recipe there, naming the components and colors. I'll welcome input on the fly selection when I get to that point and I'd love to see some of your original creations.

Hatches will also be dynamic, changing with location, time of day and time of year, and with weather. For example, a sunny afternoon in August will be prime time for big grasshopper patterns, while a spring morning will be a better time for midges and blue winged olive mayflies. Those creating new lakes and rivers will be able to copy an existing hatch file or create new ones, giving specific hatch patterns to new locations.

I haven't decided yet how the hatch-check will work, but it may be something like in RWFF where you can net a sample of the insects present, or maybe just let you use the zoom function to zoom in on bugs as they float by. I plan to add to the fish AI so you'll see fish feed on the prevelant hatches, too. That will make it a lot easier to scout for active fish.

Once the fly system and hatch system is done I'll work on things like different rod sizes and weights, sinking or sink-tip lines, etc. For now I've got a lot of modeling to do to make the components of the flies and the insects.

It will be a while before the fly fishing is ready to release, but soon (the next week or two) I plan to release a 3D flytying tool. I don't know if it will be a formal part of the released game, or just a tool available for "power users", but I thought some of you would have some fun creating flies in 3D. If you want to share some of your creations to put in the game, that would be great, too. I'll set a goal of having the fly tying tool available by the 10th, and fly fishing ready for some testing by the end of the month.

It's very easy, but with less control than in RWFF. You can add a component like a head, body, tail, wing, hackle etc. For most components there are several versions to pick from, like a standard dry fly hackle, parachute hackle, palmered hackle, centered hackle, short clipped hackle, etc. Then click on a texture image to color that item, with a few dozen textures to pick from. You can rotate the fly with the arrow keys to see it from any angle. RWFF gives you the additional options of scaling, moving and rotating each component, but for the full 3D version I want to keep it simpler, and give you more variation through a broad variety of components and texture permutations.

You can also create a fly by just editing a text file, listing all the components and what textures to use for each, but it's easier to create them through the game. Direct editing would be a handy way to make several variations of an existing fly, though.